Norm Matthews

Dinner tonight was a pork loin stuffed with spinach, onion, bella mushrooms, bacon and provolone cheese and cooked outdoors on the grill. Green beans are Southern style (my mom) simmered with onion and bacon. Dessert was a cherry crisp that was good but did not turn out at all like I expected it to.

Grilled rib-eye steak with scratch made Adobo rub, potato, salad with dressing made with mango vinegar, honey, grainy Dijon and Spanish olive oil. A couple other dressings were on the table but no one wanted them.

I am all set for outside cooking now. I just added a propane grill to the new smoker. I broke it in with a spatchcocked chicken with an adobo rub and a orange serrano glaze. It was served with a poblano lime aioli and grilled zucchini. It looked better on the table than it did in the picture.

I used my new smoker again today. Last night I took a small piece of pork shoulder and seasoned it with a rub, rolled and tied it and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. Today I smoked it for 6 hours. This is half of it. I gave the other half to my back yard neighbors.

Dinner tonight was acorn squash baked with salt and pepper, maple syrup and butter. Cheeseburger had onion, mayo and a grilled deli bun. It is probably my imagination but since I moved to Kansas City, I think the hamburger tastes better.

Duck eggs have a larger size and a larger proportion of yolk to white. They taste about the same as chicken eggs but a little richer. Any way you like to prepare chicken eggs will give you great eggs. They are also great in cakes, as heidih mentioned.

kayb, if you just need a small smoker, a Weber kettle will work as both a small smoker and regular grill. The one I have is the smallest one that company makes (Horizon smokers)

I have substituted ground turkey with OK results. I didn't use a panade per se, but I did use some dry bread crumbs and tomato paste.

I recently moved and immediately afterwards ordered a good quality BBQ smoker. It was delivered yesterday. Like a cast iron skillet, it needed seasoning which I did last night. Today I smoked a slab of spare ribs. Here is a pic. of dinner: The ribs, black bean, tomato and corn salsa, BBQ beans and roasted new potatoes. Not pictured is Spumoni ice cream for dessert. The smoker in action and the ribs

There are lots of aromatic vegetables one can use to flavor stocks. Carrots and celery are just two. I'd almost always want to include something from the onion family though.

I have been packing, moving and unpacking for a couple of months. Even though the new kitchen space is bigger, counter space and storage is smaller. The strip steak was done indoors on a cast iron griddle, corn and potato in the oven. Halfway through the spinach I realized I didn't have any vinegar so used sone Italian dressing. Salad was tomatoes, onion, celery, radish, and carrot. I used Plugra butter on the breadstick, potato and corn. Drink was Squirt.

One BBQ book I saw refers to grilling and 'City" BBQ. Competition smokers consider slow smoke to be the only BBQ. The following is a brief look at old traditional (Southern) BBQ areas around the country and a very cursory look at the general trends in each area. There are exceptions and at the risk of being stereotypical, I humbly submit the following. Please feel free to criticize or elaborate as you see fit. A brief survey of BBQ. Barbecue started out as a Southern thing. It probably started in the Virginia colonies and they learned about it from Native Americans, African Slaves and Caribbean traders. In the South, BBQ meant pork. Pork was the choice of large gathering cook outs because it was cheap. Hogs could run wild and forage for themselves. Farmers didn’t have to feed them and they didn’t compete with people by eating the same food. Barbecue was perfect for wild hogs because the long slow cooking over a smokey fire made tough stringy meat delicious. BBQ often brought people together since a hog could feed from 40 to 100 people. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson wrote about BBQ;s the attended. Scarlet O’Hara met Rhett at a BBQ. BBQ could bring crowds to church and votes for politicians. Even though everyone could agree that BBQ was a good thing, there were strong feelings that people could argue about. Chopped or pulled, whole or shoulder, tomato baste or vinegar. It was really about keeping traditions alive and stubbornly insisting that it be done right instead of the easy way. North Carolina The East Carolina traditional BBQ is the closest to the earliest forms of slow cooking. It is whole hog, open pit and it‘s an apple cider vinegar and red pepper based sauce. It is served with hush puppies, cole slaw and Brunswick stew Tom Solomon’s 10 commandments for barbecue (East Carolina BBQ) 1.Thou shalt not have any barbecue but The One True Barbecue before thee 2. Thou shalt not barbecue beef, not chicken, but only pork 3. Thou shalt not cook with gas, nor with infrared horizontal ovens, but only with hardwoods such as hickory or oak, or apple if you must. 4. Thou shalt not make for yourself a graven sauce, or any likeness of any commercial sauce like unto that made in factories in Texas or Kansas City; thou shalt not use tomato, nor ketchup,nor honey,nor mustard; but only have apple cider vinegar and red pepper before thee. 5. Thou shalt not take the name of Eastern North Carolina Barbecue in vain. 6. Thou shalt remember the pit day of Thursday, and keep it holy. 7. Honor thy pit master and thy waitress, that your barbecue may be always plentiful and your ice-tea glass be always full. 8. Thou shalt not consort with health inspectors, nor with environmental zealots, nor with vegetarians, for verily it is so that Hitler was a vegetarian, and Hitler was bad. 9. Thou shalt have hush puppies and slaw and Brunswick stew with thy barbecue 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife- unless she professeth to love thy barbecue, is attractive, and will bring you beer as you tend thy pit. Tom Solomon’sOne True Barbecue Sauce 16 ounces apple cider vinegar 1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes 1 1/2 Tablespoons Phu Quoc brand nuoc mam* 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon black pepper Mix all ingredients and let stand for one or two days before using. Mix with pulled pork barbecue before serving if using as a dip. Note. It is important to use the Vietnamese nouc mam. Other brands tend to be too salty and fishy to blend with the other ingredients. *In the 1600’s and 1700’s people use a concoction called English Ketchup. It contained clams. This recipe comes close to duplicating the original recipe used by the early colonists except their sauce contained clams. Phu Quac replaces the clams in the original recipe. Lexington Style Usually consists of pork shoulder, is closed pit, pulled off the bone but you can order it chopped or sliced. Sauce may have a touch of tomatoes or ketchup added. Served with hush puppies, BBQ potatoes and cornbread. South Carolina has it’s own terrain, personality and BBQ. It is most famous for it’s mustard based sauce but you can find vinegar, tomato or ketchup based sauces in different areas around the state. Pork tends to be whole hog with hams and shoulders apparent too. It is chopped or pulled. One side that is different in parts of South Carolina is BBQ hash, a mixture of meats and rice in place of Brunswick stew. Georgia Pork is the star but you can find beef, chicken, turkey and even lamb, but mostly it is pork slow smoking. Brunswick is in Georgia so they claim the stew and BBQ hash is popular in places too. Sandwiches come on plain white bread. Collard greens, potato salad and coleslaw are common side dishes. Alabama Along the gulf coast, Texas style beef brisket is popular, Toward Tennessee, Memphis influences are around but the red sauce is often spicier. You will find white sauce made with mayonnaise, vinegar and black pepper. Popular sides are onion rings, fries, potato salad and slaw Kentucky Western Kentucky its shredded mutton, in Eastern part of the state it’s pork and has a lot in common with the Carolinas style. Mutton is served with a tomato based sauce the comes in mild, hot and extra hot versions. Naked mutton- no sauce, just chopped is popular there too. A popular side dish is a stew called Burgoo. Western Kentucky, BBQ is served on cornbread rather than a bun or white bread. Arkansas Generally east means pork, west means beef but trends blend. Sauces are browner, thicker and sweeter than in most of the South. Cole slaw, baked beans and french fries are all common sides. Texas A very large state with a few thousand BBQ spots. Cattle is king and brisket is most popular but you can get ribs, sausage, pork, chicken, mutton, rattlesnake and armadillo. In West Texas cabrito ( young goat) popular. In South Texas there is a dish where the head of a cow is wrapped in burlap and cheesecloth and BBQed. Closed Pit BBQs are most often used and portable ones shaped like beer bottles, longhors steers or pistols are like Texas art forms. Mesquite is legendary but it burns too hot and fast and more Texans use hickory, oak and pecan. Dry rubs inclued the typical stuff plus influences from the south and Mexico such as chili powders, cumin and garlic. Sauces may be mopped on during the cooking or at the last 30 minutes or left off completely. Sauce is usually tomato based, a bit thinner than in the midwest and typically is made of ketchup, Worcesteshire sauce, chili powder, dry mustard and sugar, with paprika, garlic, cumin, onions or even vinegar sometime added. Sides include Pinto beans, coleslaw, various kinds or potato salad, corn on the cob,mac and cheese, and all manner of peppers. Don’t be surprised if your BBQ is served on brown butcher paper. Memphis in May is where one of the world's largest BBQ contests take place and it is all about pork. It is the World Championship Barbecue Contest. There is a side contest for everything else but the main thing in Memphis is hog. I hear some people even BBQ spaghetti and pizza though. The big controversy in Memphis is wet or dry ribs. Wet ribs are served with sauce, dry ribs are served without or "naked". Sometimes dry ribs have sauce on the side but that is not allowed in competition. You must either put it on or leave it off completely. Typical sauce in Memphis is tomato based and both hot and sweet with some vinegar. Sweet can come from marmalade, brown sugar, molasses, but the sweet does not dominate. Hot comes from cayenne, black and red pepper. Some even include things that range from Italian Dressing to Coca Cola. Sides are BBQ baked beans, skin-on fries, coleslaw and onion rings. One popular signature sandwich is pulled pork with sauce on a bun and topped with coleslaw. Kansas City ( I am prejudiced. KC is my hometown) Barbecue and Kansas City were fated for each other. Influences from the East came to Kansas City as the jumping off point for settlers heading west on the Oregon and California trails. Cattle drives from Texas terminated in Kansas City with the Santa Fe and Chisholm trails. Two rivers join in KC to provied water connections to the Mississipi and Ohio rivers with contacts east and south to Memphis and New Orleans. Later trains brought cattle to KC from Abilene and Dodge Cty where they off-loaded for food and water. Kansas City was grain exhange and pork meat packing center. Beef was a natual addition to the meat processing plants after they were fattened up on grain at the stock yards 1907 Henry Perry opened first BBQ restaurant in Kansas City. As far as known, it was the only one in the nation at that time. There were possibly a couple earlier ones in the South, but at the time his was the only one known. 25 years later there were over 1000 BBQ stands in K.C.. By the time of his death, he was known as the BBQ king and had three restaurants. In the 20’ and 30’s Kansas City virtually ignored prohibition with honky tonks, gambling and speak easys. Jazz developed a singular style in KC. It was a mecca where all kinds of styles of music and BBQ came together and blended to create lots of diversity. You will find whole hog, Memphis ribs and Texas beef combined with a style of it’s own. You can find BBQ chicken, fish, sausage, just about everything. Charlie Bryant was manager of one of Henry Perrys other restaurants. He took over the operation when Henry died in 1940. Charlie’s brother, Arthur Bryant also worked for Mr. Perry. Arthur and took over when Charlie retired in 1946. Arthur changed the sauce. He thought Henry and his brother made it way too hot. Some consider Arthur Bryants the most famous barbecue joint on earth. His bbq is the standard by which others are judged. Some hate his style others love it. Calvin Trillin (1974 essay for The New Yorker) called it the best damned restaurant in the world. Now days it is no longer in the family. It is now the property of a white-owned restaurant company, has suburban branches and the sauce is for sale around the country. Arthur resisted bottling his sauce because -I am told- he didn’t want to put the ingredients on the label. Burnt Ends. Arthur Bryant used to trim off the blackened (not burned) ends of his brisket and put them out for people to nibble on while waiting in line to order. They became so popular that most restaurants carry a version of them today. Arthur Pinkhard..Henry Perry’s pit master at his original restaurant. After Perry’s death, he went to work for another BBQ restaurant, Old Kentuck. 1946 George Gates bought the run down restaurant. Arthur came with the restaurant and taught the Gates family all about Henry Perry’s techniques: slow cooking meats over wood coals. He retired in the early 50’s, and died not long afterwards. Gates and Son’s is owned by Ollie Gates today. He is the most successful bbq restaurant entrepreneur in Kansas City. Sauces are deep red, thick and pungent. Some are sweet like Memphis. Dry rubs are commonly used and include paprika, salt, black and red peppers, sugar and garlic powder. The Kansas City Barbeque Society has a few thousand members in all 50 states and several other countries and sponcer or sanction a network of BBQ contests all over the country. There are at least 20 BBQ contests each year in Kansas city, the American Royal being touted as the largest in the world ( the World Series of BBQ) Sides inclued coleslaw, dirty rice, potato salad and Kansas City baked beans which include beef drippings and beef brisket bits (burnt ends) added.

I have seen Alton cook a steak under a chimney with good effect but i agree that cooking with a wok in coals would probably be better. Residential gas and electric stoves don't put out nearly enough heat for the way they are used in commercial Chinese kitchens.

James Beard would bridle at being called a chef. At one time the title Chef was bestowed only on graduates from the Cordon Bleu in France. Now days some people think of themselves as a chef if they have graduated from any cooking school even if they haven't got a job in a kitchen yet. Others insist you have to have experience in a restaurant kitchen. Some people consider calling any masterful cook a chef regardless of formal training. Some people consider themselves chefs if they teach cooking. It is conceivable that someone with a hotel-restaurant management degree who runs a restaurant in a hotel, has the title executive chef, yet may not ever do any actual cooking. The term is so loosely applied now days in this country as to be too nebulous to pin down to a specific person.

There is no longer a universally accepted definition of chef. Since one can't define the title in black and white terms, you can't define somewone as such a person, but you can like or dislike a person by what he/says and does. If they are a fraud, they'll eventually trip themselves up.

I have no idea if the beef, eggs, rice, wheat, ketchup, peanut butter, apples, and strawberries I get are organic or not. They probably are not. Some of the beef, eggs and wheat I get are locally grown but probably not officially "organic". I guess I am going to die someday. Oh well. I am already older than most of the people I know.

Thank you rarerollingobject. Nearly everything is packed up for moving so no pictures and everything was off paper plates. We had crab legs and asparagus baked in the oven, steak and corn on the grill, boiled new potatoes, fried hush puppies and melon wrapped in proscuito and mint leaf. Asparagus served with a sauce made with butter soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. We had french bread made into garlic bread too.

When I boil water for pasta, I just put a wooden spoon across the top of the pan. It stops boil over. Don't ask me how it works but 99% of the time it does work. The bubbles break up and don't spill over.

I don't see any analogy between sticking two pieces of glass together with a drop of water and slicing a watermelon. With the glass you are exerting a totally different pressure (up and down) than with the back and forth effort with a knife. Non stick has noting to do with it. serration does.

My son made us sandwiches today. This one is with pork loin and marinated vegetables.

Thank you kayb.

In Kansas and Texas the beef ribs preferred for slow cooking are called beef back ribs. They are often overlooked at the meat counter but are very good and usually not expensive. They are the bones that come off a rib eye roast. Look for the meatiest ones you can find.

This was some Stroganoff from last week.

I visited my son in Seattle a few years ago and tried several fish dishes when I was there. The one I enjoyed the most was mahi mahi served outdoors on the pier. Although much maligned and misunderstood, fresh water catfish can be delicious if properly prepared.

I am from Kansas City and I have a smoker in my back yard. But in reality, smoke only is important for a couple of hours at most for spare ribs. The rest could be done in the oven. Some people think you can pour sauce on anything and call it BBQ but actually it often has nothing at all to do with the cooking process. Many serious smokers think of sauce as a table condiment, not a part of the BBQ process. Having said that, if you cannot use a smoker, the rub is where most of the flavor comes from during the slow cooking time. I suspect you can get decent results by using hickory smoked salt as part of the rub and doing the whole cooking of the ribs wrapped in foil, then if you want do a quick baste of a smokey sauce under the broiler to finish them.